The Himmler's SS (40 page)

The consolidation of the Waffen-SS during the so-called ‘phoney war' brought ‘Sepp' Dietrich's Leibstandarte up to the strength of a superbly equipped armoured regiment, and the three SS-VT regiments were formed into the first full SS division, the SS-Verfügungsdivision or SS-V, under the command of Paul Hausser. The SS-Totenkopfstandarten amalgamated to become the SS-Totenkopf-Division or SS-T, under Eicke, and a third combat division, the Polizei-Division led by SS-Brigadeführer Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch, was created almost overnight by a mass transfer of uniformed police personnel strengthened by cadres of SS-V and SS-T troops. The Polizei-Division was, however, intended to be very much a second-line security unit, and it was organised on the basis of horse-drawn infantry equipped with outdated Czech weapons.

The campaign in the west established beyond doubt the fighting reputation of the Waffen-SS. When the Blitzkrieg began in May 1940, the Leibstandarte and ‘Der Führer' were deployed on the Dutch frontier and had little difficulty in sweeping through Holland, securing many vital river crossings as they went. On 16 May, SS-T went into action in support of Rommel's 7th Panzer Division in southern Belgium and eastern France, duly committing one of the first recorded SS atrocities when 100 unarmed British prisoners of the 2nd Royal Norfolks were machine-gunned at Le Paradis by inexperienced and panicky Totenkopf troops who had been thrown into disarray by the ferocity of a recent British counter-attack. The German advance soon divided the Allied forces into two, with large numbers of British, French and Belgian soldiers separated from the main bulk of the French army to the south of the ‘panzer corridor'. The Leibstandarte, SS-V and SS-T were in the forefront of the sweep, and ‘Deutschland' distinguished itself particularly well in some fiercely contested canal crossings. The northern Allies quickly became compressed into an ever-decreasing defensive pocket centring around Dunkirk. The Leibstandarte was heavily engaged in desperate fighting at the nearby village of Wormhoudt, where Dietrich was trapped in a burning ditch for several hours as the battle raged around him, before being rescued by an assault squad. A company of his men under Wilhelm Mohnke retaliated by killing eighty British prisoners-of-war in cold blood. After the Dunkirk evacuation, the Waffen-SS was redeployed against the main body of the French army which was holding a line along the River Somme. While the slow-moving Polizei-Division successfully slogged it out through the Argonne Forest, other motorised SS units had little difficulty in smashing through enemy lines on 6 June and within a week the Leibstandarte had linked up with army panzers as far south as Vichy. The SS-Totenkopf-Division advanced on Bordeaux and the SS-Verfügungsdivision raced towards Biarritz. On 17 June, the French sued for peace and five days later the war in the west was over.

Assault engineers and artillery of the SS-Totenkopf-Division crossing La Bassée canal, 23 May 1940. Camouflage clothing had not been widely distributed to SS-T troops at this early stage in the war, and field-grey army pattern tunics with matching death's head collar patches were the order of the day.

An assault squad of the ‘Germania' regiment in France, May 1940. Collar patches have been removed for security reasons, and the men carry smocks folded underneath their belts. A variety of equipment and weaponry is in evidence, including the short-lived SS pattern webbing supporting straps worn by the man in the centre, who has attached foliage to his steel helmet.

In recognition of their bravery and leadership during the western campaign, seven SS men including Dietrich and Steiner received the coveted Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, at that time the supreme German military award. Many others were decorated with lower grades of the Iron Cross, wound badges and associated combat awards. In September, the Leibstandarte was presented with a new standard by Himmler at their barracks in Metz, and Hitler told them: ‘You, who bear my name, will have the honour of leading every German attack in the future'. The Waffen-SS had won its spurs in convincing style.

A Leibstandarte machine-gun team marching through the French countryside, June 1940. By this time, the camouflage helmet cover had become a distinctive mark of the Waffen-SS.

An Untersturmführer of an SS-V ancillary unit, denoted by his lack of a regimental cuff title, during a lull in the western Blitzkrieg, May 1940.

Germany's success in western Europe opened up a new reservoir of pro-Nazi Volksdeutsche and Germanic peoples whom the Wehrmacht had no authority to conscript and whom Gottlob Berger's SS Hauptamt set about recruiting into the Waffen-SS. With the consequent increase in SS numbers, the Leibstandarte was upgraded to a brigade and a completely new division was authorised, the bulk of its personnel being Nordic volunteers from Flanders, Holland, Norway and Denmark. The leadership of the new division was drawn from existing formations, and it totally incorporated the ‘Germania' regiment of SS-V. Initially adopting the name SS-Division ‘Germania', the new unit was retitled ‘Wiking' (‘Viking') at the end of 1940 and placed under the command of Felix Steiner. It was to become one of the finest divisions in the SS Order of Battle.

To make up for the loss of the ‘Germania' regiment, the SS-Verfügungsdivision was assigned a Totenkopfstandarte and in January 1941 it was renamed SS-Division ‘Reich'. The other Totenkopfstandarten were reorganised to play a more active role as independent formations. Two Death's Head regiments, plus artillery and support units, were formed into SS-Kampfgruppe ‘Nord', and another Standarte was sent to Norway for occupation duty as SS-Infantry Regiment 9. The five remaining Totenkopfstandarten went to the Waffen-SS training ground at Debica in Poland, where they were reequipped and designated as SS-Infantry Regiments. Finally, the existing Death's Head cavalry units amalgamated to become SS-Kavallerie Regiments 1 and 2.

During the spring of 1941, Germany prepared for the impending invasion of the Soviet Union. When Mussolini's surprise attack on Greece went disastrously wrong, and a new anti-German régime seized power in Yugoslavia, Hitler ordered immediate action to secure his southern flank. On 6 April, a Blitzkrieg was unleashed on Yugoslavia and Greece. SS-Division ‘Reich' was in the forefront of the attack and a small assault detachment under SS-Hauptsturmführer Fritz Klingenberg audaciously captured the Yugoslavian capital, Belgrade, on 13 April. By using a motor boat, Klingenberg and his men were able to slip through the city defences and force its surrender from a confused and bewildered mayor. In Greece, the Leibstandarte was engaged in a series of more hard-fought battles against not only the Greeks but also British and New Zealand troops. After suffering heavy losses at the Klidi Pass, the LAH reconnaissance battalion commanded by SS-Sturmbannführer Kurt Meyer took the strategically crucial Klissura Pass and almost 11,000 prisoners into the bargain. On 20 April, General Tsolakoglu of the Greek III Army Corps surrendered to ‘Sepp' Dietrich and a week later Athens fell to the German forces. By the end of the month, the Balkan campaign was effectively over. It had been another victory for the Waffen-SS. Klingenberg, Meyer and Gerd Pleiss, commander of the Leibstandarte's 1st Company which had been most active at Klidi, became the latest recipients of the Knight's Cross. A propaganda film,
Der Weg der LAH
, extolled their exploits.

SS-Totenkopf troops celebrate after the fall of France. The man on the right wears the white ‘Hilfs-Krankenträger' armband of an auxiliary stretcher-bearer, and a typical mixture of clothing and insignia is evident from the appearance of the others. One soldier even wears contradictory rank insignia, i.e. the blank left-hand collar patch of an SS-Schütze in conjunction with the arm chevron of an SS-Sturmmann. Anomalies such as this were usually the result of field promotions.

At dawn on 22 June 1941, Hitler ordered his forces into Russia to begin the epic conflict of ideologies which became a war of extermination and was to change forever the hitherto generally chivalrous character of the Waffen-SS. The rigours of the eastern front, encompassing everything from bitterly cold winters to sweltering summers, and from endless steppes and swamps to mountains and forests, brought out the very best, and the very worst, in Himmler's men. The German deployment for Operation Barbarossa extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea and was organised into three Army Groups designated North, Centre and South. The SS-Totenkopf-Division, the Polizei-Division and Kampfgruppe ‘Nord' were assigned to Army Group North, SS-Division ‘Reich' to Army Group Centre and the Leibstandarte and SS-Division ‘Wiking' to Army Group South. The latter two formations particularly impressed their army counterparts by their aggression and skill in attack. ‘Reich' was heavily engaged at Minsk, Smolensk and Borodino, where Hausser was severely wounded and lost his right eye, and the division came within a few kilometres of Moscow at the end of the year. The only real SS failure occurred on the Finnish front when the second-rate troops of Kampfgruppe ‘Nord' were thrown into a mass panic and ignominiously routed on 2 July. The unit had to be withdrawn and completely overhauled, and it was thereafter reinforced with seasoned veterans from the Totenkopf-Division to become SS-Division ‘Nord'.